Legalize Freedom

I stand for freedom. Freedom from government control over what you do with your life. You only get one life on this earth. It is a finite period of time. Unfortunately, you don’t get to know how long your life is. DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH IT! We are already robbed of a significant amount of our money by the government, after that, why the hell should the government tell you what you can put in your body, do with your time and your money? Many arguments are made for ending the prohibition of marijuana, but the only one that really, truly matters to me is free will and the current infringement upon that. If my behavior is not harming or infringing on the rights of another citizen, what logical grounds does the government have to prevent me from using, enjoying or profiting from a substance that grows in the dirt? Free markets will determine the fate of the product, just as it does for all other products. It is time to stop allowing the Government to tread on us and pursue true freedom, true liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the manner which we see fit.

Now, I certainly appreciate the government making restrictions for my life. If I didn’t have its wisdom and foresight, I might have hurt myself by now. Thank you o’ wise and powerful centralized authority! Let’s briefly walk through the list of things that ARE legal which the government is perfectly ok with. Alcohol - legal. Cigarettes - legal. Chew - legal. Diet soda - legal. Prescription opioids that lead you to a heroin addiction – legal. Consuming as much saturated fat, sugar, partially hydrogenated oil, red meat and junk food as you want until you get heart disease – legal. Swimming with sharks – legal. Jumping out of planes – legal. If the government is so concerned about your safety and well-being, why don’t they ban these things?

We should end the prohibition of marijuana and allow the states and municipalities to make their own laws. American citizens are always closer to their state legislatures than Federal representation and it will allow them to shape laws that are right for each area of the country.

My plan for ending the prohibition of marijuana is a win for everyone. Police will no longer have to spend their time enforcing petty crime and can focus on real crime. Individuals will no longer lose out on opportunities for employment due to exercising their own free will. We will tax it and invest that tax revenue into down payments for homes for low income people to help them build equity and generational wealth, fighting the opioid crisis and investing in police resources. This is a great, bipartisan way to restore freedom to America while reinvesting into those that the current laws have harmed by taking away freedom and opportunities, plus many great investment opportunities for the investment class. Even if you don’t like marijuana, the downstream effects of this investment are a win across the board, unless your heart is set on incarcerating people. I can’t help you then.

While we’re on the subject. This country incriminates too many people for simply living their life the way the want to live it, choosing to smoke or sell a product that is illegal for absolutely no reason. Depending on where you live, a black person sitting on their porch smoking weed is 3x to 8x more likely than a white person to be ticketed for possession despite similar usage rates. This is ridiculous and I can no longer accept this as a reality of our society.

Investors, rich people, entrepreneurs or people looking to match up their resumes to legal employment – this is a big win for you and an argument that President Trump will most certainly understand. Give me 5 minutes alone in a room with him and we’ll get this all sorted out. I know how to talk to guys like this in terms he’ll understand. How many markets are there that are ready to boom by simply repealing laws? Not many, if any. As we move forward as a society, there will be fewer and fewer new markets for growth and development. This would create many jobs in different sectors. At a time where we need economic growth to combat the deficit, what better way to usher in a new era of growth and deregulation than this? Growing operations, distribution, product creation, tourism, restaurants and anything else the free market can dream up. And that is not it! Federal deregulation will allow for more free flow of business, insurance coverage for crops and any of the associated businesses, trucking, marketing and interstate commerce. For people that have experience illegally selling weed, congratulations, you now have a resume item that employers will find attractive. Real life experience. This is how you match supply and demand in the labor markets! Everyone wins.

My fellow Christians certainly will be supportive of this initiative as marijuana came from God. A simple reading of Genesis reveals this is God’s will for us to cultivate, use, heal and enjoy. Why else provide the seeds if we are not destined to use them?

There are many emerging uses in the healthcare sector for THC. It may provide lower-cost solutions at a time when prescription pill costs have skyrocketed. Depression, anxiety, paralysis, autism, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and even cancer studies have shown favorable correlations. Many more uses can be explored and widely used. Chronic pain can be relived and opioid prescriptions can be limited, benefiting the opioid crisis. More research will lead to more applications and uses, but it is certainly a direction we need to move in as a country. If you do not believe me that there are medical uses for this substance, I would be happy to introduce you to some people who have found relieve through THC whereas modern medical science has otherwise failed to treat their symptoms. This is real and it helps people. Would you deny someone a cure for what ails them?

As the headline ‘legalize freedom’ states, I am also opposed to government intervention in how we spend our money. I am proposing removing any barriers or restrictions around gambling. It is YOUR MONEY, do what you want with it. If you want to gamble on sports – go for it. Fantasy sports – sure thing. Online gambling – have at it. Gamble on E-Sports or gaming competitions or coin flips – doesn’t matter to me, it is your money, spend it how you see fit. The government taxes you already, after that point you should be able to do what you want with your money.